“Shin,” of Money is not Taboo
So.
I had to put the tractor in the shop to get the hydraulics fixed. I knew it was going to cost a bit of coin, but I was sure surprised when I looked at the bill. 14%+ in Sales Tax!
Nobody pays more anywhere near 14% in sales tax. Am I right?
Since I couldn’t pick the tractor up the day it was done and didn’t know when I could, I had called and asked if I could pay by credit card over the phone. No problem.
I was told the total amount was $802. and some change. Okay, I’m used to getting hit with big numbers when it comes to having work like this done, but something didn’t seem right.
I wrote that off thinking that I had heard $720 and change, not $702 and change. I paid the bill and waited until I could go get the tractor.
A couple of days later, I hooked the trailer up and my wife and I headed off to get the tractor and stop for Mexican food on the way home. We got to the shop, loaded the tractor and headed for food and then home. I didn’t think about the bill the rest of the night.
Since I had paid over the phone and might have been picking the tractor up after hours, the receipt was in a bag stashed under the tractor seat. I handed it to my wife and then loaded the tractor, so I didn’t look at it until the next day when I actually unloaded the tractor.
Upon inspecting the receipt, I saw that I had been charged $99.50 in tax. Unfortunately, we don’t have an agriculture tax exemption, so I got to pay extra. (Insert sad face emogi here.)
Yep, I was shocked when I saw the amount. Without even calculating in my head, I knew that $99.50 was more than 10%. I’ve never paid anywhere near 10% in Texas sales tax, much less almost 14%. Something wasn’t right!
I grabbed the phone, called the shop and talked to the bookkeeper. She was shocked when I told her what I’d been charged in tax.
Long story shorter. . .
- I’m one of the few people that actually pays sales tax at the shop.
- I looked at my receipt, questioned the amount and called about it.
- Their computer automatically calculates the sales tax and it did it wrong.
- I was reimbursed almost $50, which I saved by inspecting my receipt.
I wonder how much money I’ve lost in the past by not looking closely at my receipts. You can bet I’m going to look at them more closely from now on.
How about you? Have you dealt with something like this?
Hehe, I came here to say that sales tax in Toronto Canada is a whopping 13%. But then again they’re Canadian.
I can’t count the times I’ve looked over for mistakes hoping to keep more money but have it 100% correct oh boo!
Wow! That’s some sales tax! Keep looking, you might find something. 🙂